An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others has gone missing, Malawi’s presidency says.

“All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” Malawi’s Office of President and Cabinet said in a statement.

Chilima, 51, was aboard a Malawi Defence Force aircraft that left the capital Lilongwe at 9.17am, it said, adding that search and rescue operations were ongoing.

The aircraft had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu International Airport at 10.02am, according to the statement.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera subsequently cancelled a planned trip abroad.

Chakwera was informed of the missing plane by General Valentino Phiri, the head of the Malawian armed forces.

The president ordered authorities to “conduct an immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft,” his office said.

Chilima was a candidate in the 2019 Malawian presidential election and finished third.

That vote that was won by incumbent Peter Mutharika but was annulled by Malawi’s Constitutional Court because of irregularities.

Chakwera finished second in that election.

Chilima then joined Chakwera’s campaign as his running mate in the historic election re-run in 2020, when Chakwera was elected president.

It was the first time in Africa that an election result that was overturned by a court resulted in a defeat for the sitting president.

– AAP